The Colored Museum

In “Git on Board,” Miss Pat appears dressed as a flight attendant, a costume that mimics the polite, deferential social norms of 1980s middle-class America. This is an ironic juxtaposition aboard a flight named the “Celebrity Slaveship.” Her enforcing of the flight’s rule of “no drums” establishes her character as a subtle part of the system of oppression.

Miss Pat introduces the audience to the bizarre world of the play and functions as a host to the audience’s journey. Her emphasis regarding slavery’s legacy creates a lens through which the experience of the play is intended to be viewed. The fact that Miss Pat establishes the value of the passengers and their future suffering in terms of how rich future celebrities will become begins a thematic stream regarding the concept of Black people being prized as commodities.

Miss Pat’s hysteria as she goes through the time warp highlights her own contradiction. On the one hand, she must play the smiling oppressor role within the system, while on the other she is forced to come to terms with watching 300 years of African American oppression flash before her eyes.